Broken Wings

Stormfront

The next morning, I was brutally awakened when the dragon I was leaning against suddenly leapt to her feet, tossing me aside like a rag doll. I flailed in midair for a split second before my back struck the ground, driving my breath from me in a pained "Ooff!" Then my legs hit and any other discomfort I might have felt was blasted into nothing by a fresh burst of agony from my bad ankle. I gritted my teeth and squeezed my eyes shut. It felt like someone was twisting a knife inside my foot! Goddammit! I'm sick of this!

"What?!" Anea snarled as I snapped my eyes open to glare at her. My furious tirade died on my tongue at the sight of her. She stood rigid in a full threat display, spines pointed straight up, wings half open, teeth bared, and eyes narrowed to feral slits as they flashed around, looking for God knows what. "Where are-" She cut herself off as all her aggression melted away from her posture. She sagged on her feet for a moment then sank back to the ground, eyelids already drooping closed again, before she stiffened and looked sharply at the shoulder I'd been lying against. Seeing I wasn't there, her eyes swept around and soon found mine. "Oh," she sighed, sounding relieved. Then she blinked and jerked her head back, seeming to realize what she'd done. "Oh! Um, oops," she rumbled.

"Oops?" I didn't quite demand. Once she calmed down, my banished anger at Anea's carelessness had returned pulse by pulse in time with my throbbing ankle. I was trying to keep it from driving me to say something rash, but after yesterday's revelation, this was a losing battle. "What the hell was that!?"

"An accident," Anea replied, defensive. She scraped her left talons lightly across the rock and rested her head on the cave floor, staring at something over my head. I studied her eyes, trying to distract myself from my own anger by considering whether their ever-present glimmer was just a natural feature of dragons like I'd been assuming, or if they shone like that because she was always using magic. The light emitting from them did remind me of the glow Faolin's eyes had acquired each time he'd used magic on me. She was supposed to be accelerating my healing, and I felt certain she'd been trying to brainwash me. What else might she be screwing with? "I guess I had a bad dream. I didn't realize where I was when I knocked you away. Are you hurt?"

"No," I lied, not wanting her sympathy. Anea's wings twitched and she looked me in the eye again. Crap. I'd forgotten the careful dance around normal white lies that speaking with her required. "Not badly, at least. I hope," I added, hoping to deflate her suspicions. I did not want her digging into my feelings again, not right then.

"Your hind paw?" she asked after a moment of scrutinizing me. Success.

"Yeah," I bit off the confirmation. I took a deep breath, vainly attempting to suppress the various kinds of pain jockeying for prominence in my body and mind. "I've never been able to properly immobilize it. Even with whatever you're doing to it, every time I move it, I think it gets damaged." Anea dropped her gaze to the ground, looking guilty as I realized my words could easily be taken as an accusation. I hadn't intended that, but I also didn't mind having her on the defensive for once. "There are devices my people use to protect injured body parts so they can heal. I can't cludge together anything close to that out of sticks and string." Here it was again. Our 'disagreement.' It took every ounce of self-control I had just to keep from shouting at Anea. I had none to spare to keep my next bitter words to myself. "Didn't I tell you I wouldn't heal right out here? The night you brought me here, I told you I needed expert help to get better."

"You are better," Anea growled. I heard her growl properly as it echoed with rumbling menace through the cave. The sound of something very large, very powerful, and distinctly annoyed.

"Fine," I huffed, refusing to let her intimidate me. "Yes, I'll admit you fixed my left leg and arm-"

"And your ribs. Your lungs. Your hide. I stopped your wounds from becoming infected. I kept you safe from predators. I've fed you and sheltered you in my own nest." She was glaring at me now, determined, but not quite angry. "I saved your life."